More grandstand seats for PGA Championship 

NEWS RELEASE FROM EUROPEAN TOUR

In response to record levels of demand and advance ticket sales for this year’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club from May 19-24, the European Tour has announced that it has increased capacity in two of its most popular grandstands ahead of one of the UK’s blue riband summer sporting events.

Advance ticket sales for the 2015 BMW PGA Championship are currently the highest they have ever been (compared with the same sales period in previous years), with pre-booked seats in the iconic 18th grandstand up 40% on last year. 

As a result, the European Tour has added 475 extra seats in the 18th green amphitheatre for this year’s Championship, taking its overall capacity up to 2,561.

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 Calvin Peete, former US PGA Tour winner and

Ryder Cup player, dies at 71  
Former USA Ryder Cup star and Players Championship winner Calvin Peete has died. He was 71.
The US PGA Tour confirmed his passing on Wednesday morning but details of the cause of death were not revealed.
Peete overcame physical difficulties to enjoy a fantastic career as a professional golfer and was the most successful African-American player on the US PGA Tour prior to the emergence of Tiger Woods.
He won 12 times on the Tour and was the most accurate driver of his generation, leading the tour in driving accuracy every year from 1981 to 1990.
His most successful year was in 1982, when he won four times, and he claimed the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average in 1984, edging out Jack Nicklaus.
He won The Players Championship in 1985 and represented the USA in the Ryder Cups of 1983 and 1985, winning both of his singles matches and finishing with a record of four wins, two defeats and one half.
Peete achieved all this despite playing with a left arm he could not totally extend because of a broken elbow that occurred during a childhood fall, and his permanently bent arm ensured his swing was easily recognisable.
He is survived by seven children and his wife Pepper, who said: “Everyone in the family admired and loved him.
“We are so thankful that he was in our lives as a father, husband and role model.  He was a blessing, and he will be missed.”
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said: “Calvin was an inspiration to so many people.
“He started in the game relatively late in life but quickly became one of the Tour’s best players, winning and winning often despite the hardship of his injured arm.
“I can still remember watching Calvin hit drive after drive straight down the middle of the fairway, an amazing display of talent he possessed despite some of his physical limitations.
“Throughout his life, he gave so much, and we especially noticed it when he moved to Ponte Vedra Beach as he continued to support the community, the US PGA Tour, and our various charitable pursuits.
“Calvin will always be remembered as a great champion and an individual who consistently gave back to the game. We will dearly miss him.”

FROM GOLF DIGEST
By John Strege

Calvin Peete had an aversion to heat that was rooted in the summers of his youth and long hours picking corn and beans beneath Florida’s blistering sun. It left sweat stains on his soul that would not allow him even to keep a vegetable garden at home. One day, friends invited him to play golf. “Who wants to chase a ball under the hot sun?” he asked rhetorically.
Peete, who died Wednesday morning at 71, was as unlikely a champion as golf ever produced. There was his upbringing; he was one of 19 kids from his father’s two marriages and was a high school drop-out who worked in the fields “from sunup to sundown,” People magazine once wrote.
He had diamonds implanted in his two front teeth and sold jewellery to migrant farm workers.
He did not take up golf until he was 23, and in a sport that preaches left arm straight, his was permanently bent from falling off a tree and breaking the arm.

He not only took up golf, he became proficient at it, winning 12 tournaments, including the Players Championship in 1985. Eleven of those victories came from 1982 through 1986, more than any other player, and he spent 20 weeks in the top 10 in the World Ranking. Peete won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average in 1983. Jack Nicklaus was second. He also played on U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 1983 and 1985.
“Calvin was an inspiration to so many people,” US PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. “He started in the game relatively late in life but quickly became one of the tour’s best players, winning and winning often despite the hardship of his injured arm.”
His arm was crooked, but his forte was straight. For 10 consecutive years, from 1981 through his last full season in 1990, he led the US PGA Tour in driving accuracy. In 1983, he hit 84.55 percent of the fairways. He also led the tour in greens in regulation on three occasions.
Peete was a quick study. Within six months of taking up golf, he was breaking 80. A year later, he was breaking par. He never took a lesson, but read instructional books by Hogan and Snead, Nicklaus and Toski. At the age of 32, he earned his US PGA Tour membership.
“I can still remember watching Calvin hit drive after drive straight down the middle of the fairway, an amazing display of talent he possessed despite some of his physical limitations,” Finchem said.
 “Throughout his life, he gave so much, and we especially noticed it when he moved to Ponte Vedra Beach as he continued to support the community, the PGA Tour and our various charitable pursuits.
“Along with his wife, Pepper, he made such a difference working with the First Tee and junior golf in this area. Calvin will always be remembered as a great champion and an individual who consistently gave back to the game. We will dearly miss him.”

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Left to right: Jamie McLeary, Duncan Stewart, Pamela Prestswell, George Murray, Sally Watson, Wallace Booth, Andrew McArthur, Jack Doherty.

New team SSE Scottish Hydro line-up announced

NEWS RELEASE

SSE Scottish Hydro today announced continued support for the Team SSE Scottish Hydro programme which provides financial support and advice for emerging talented professionals on both the European Challenge Tour and the Ladies European Tour.

2014 was one of the most successful years for the programme which saw Kylie Walker secure two victories on the Ladies European Tour and Andrew McArthur win for the second time on the European Challenge Tour.

While Kylie Walker secured her highest finish (11th) on the LET Order of Merit, McArthur once again narrowly missed out on winning his full European Tour card and hopes that this year, he can finally turn his consistency into a top 15 finish and a place on the European Tour. 
He said: “I am extremely grateful for the continued support from SSE Scottish Hydro. This will be my fourth year as part of the team and I am hopeful that this year will be the one that sees me secure my Tour card. I have had opportunities to play on the European Tour last year and I hope to have several starts again this year so I know what to expect and I know what I need to do to get there.”

This morning, the six Challenge Tour players and two Ladies Tour players were announced. For the men, Andrew McArthur, Jamie McLeary, George Murray and Duncan Stewart return and they are joined by newcomer Wallace Booth and also Jack Doherty who returns to the Challenge Tour after a tough 2014 on the European Tour. 
In addition to the Challenge Tour players, Chris Kelly will continue to receive support on the Tartan Tour. For the ladies, Pamela Pretswell continues to receive support for a third year and is joined this season by 2014 LET Rookie of the Year runner-up Sally Watson.

Both McLeary and Doherty are previous members of Team SSE Scottish Hydro who won their Tour cards in 2014 and are set to benefit once again from the support provided to them. 
McLeary, who qualified and then played all four rounds at The Open Championship at Hoylake in 2014 was one of the first recipients of support in 2011 and is an example of how the programme continues to help players as their career develops. 
He said: “I have really benefited from being a part of Team SSE Scottish Hydro and to be offered this support once again is a great boost as I try to win my Tour card back and use the experience I gained last year.
" I know it will not be easy but I felt that I learned a lot from last year’s experience and I am looking forward to the challenge this year.”

For the ladies, Pamela Pretswell is looking to follow in the footsteps of her close friend, Kylie Walker, and she has already started well in 2015. With three top ten finishes already this year, she currently sits in 7^th place on the LET Order of Merit. 
Pamela said: “Watching Kylie last year was a real inspiration and my early results this year are hopefully just the start of what I can achieve this year.”
 Sally Watson joins Team SSE Scottish Hydro for the first time and she is also looking to improve on her very successful first year on the Ladies European Tour.

Colin Banks, acting Head of Sponsorship at SSE Scottish Hydro, said: “We are delighted to continue our support for some of Scotland’s top emerging golf professionals. Last season was a very exciting one for both Kylie and Andrew and we hope that this year’s professionals can continue this success. 
"Team SSE Scottish Hydro has now provided support to 16 men and women over the past five years and this initiative is a key part of our growing golf programme.”

All the Challenge Tour players will be returning to Aviemore to compete in the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts in what will be the 10^th consecutive year that the Challenge Tour event has been staged in Scotland. 
Both Jamie McLeary and George Murray are previous winners of this event in what is universally regarded as one of the headline events on the European Challenge Tour.